A New Life
by SoldierFirstClass
Summary: After Zack's death, Cloud struggles with a mixture of the anger of loss, the confusion of his past and the presence of Jenova within him. In his anger, he seeks revenge. This is a One Hit story.


_**Disclaimer:** Most of these characters and ideas are products of Square-Enix/Squaresoft from the video game Final Fantasy 7 and I am in no way responsible for the creation of this fictional world or the characters within it._

_**Rating:** T or PG-13 (mild language, violence)_

_Prologue: _

_In Final Fantasy 7, (in a hidden flashback), Zack helped Cloud escape from the lab under the ShinRa mansion where Hojo had experimented on Cloud with Jenova cells. Zack then gave Cloud one of his outfits to wear so that he could change out of his ShinRa soldier uniform. During their journey to Midgar to start new lives, Zack was killed by ShinRa soldiers and Cloud was left for dead. Cloud then dragged himself to the cliff edge that overlooked the Mako city of Midgar. This is where Cloud claimed the buster sword and mourned his dead friend. Cloud did manage to make it to Midgar but when he arrived, he had a little more than starting a new life on his mind..._

**A New Life**

The engine of the motorcycle revved loudly in Cloud's ears as the world around him whipped past. With Zack's buster sword strapped to his back, Cloud gripped the handles on the stolen bike with all his strength, urging it to move even faster. Sights, sounds, and feelings all seemed to blur into an incessant roar that could not be heard over the burning anger that filled Cloud's heart. Suddenly, like a lightening strike, Cloud's mind was jolted back to reality as his searching gaze met his target. Cloud's eyes narrowed as he further tightened his grip on the handlebars and actually felt them bending under his newfound strength.

_(Commander)_

The ShinRa Commander stepped out the back of the ShinRa TTV(Troop Transport Vehicle) as the rear double doors swung open. He removed his red commander hat as he stepped out in to the refreshing breeze, stroking his hair back as he, for one moment, felt free of his duties. Shaking off his moment of freedom, he placed is cap back on his head and began to give orders.

"Private Fox, get out here and start changing that damn tire!" he shouted.

"Yes Sir!" the ShinRa soldier immediately replied.

"What luck." the ShinRa Commander mumbled angrily. "We carry out urgent orders that are sure to get us all promoted and the damn tire blows on the way back to make the report."

The commander turned to a ShinRa soldier sitting in the back of the TTV. "That was great shoot'n out there Private Creed. Take'n down that SOLDIER like that."

"Just doing my job, Sir," the ShinRa soldier replied. "That bastard took out Rose and injured Jacobs. If I hadn't hit him when I did..."

"Then me or Fox would'a got him," the commander interrupted. "Trust me, SOLDIER is just a waste of money program that turns out punk Sephiroth-wannabes with glowing eyes and big swords. Frankly, when it comes down to it, I'd rather have a gun at my side than some Mako poisoning and an oversized blade. Wouldn't you?"

_(Creed)_

Creed though about the commanders words for a minute before answering. "You're damn right," he said confidently. "That fool didn't know who he was messin with. I wonder what the Prez will think when he hears that a grunt like me took out a first class SOLDIER."

Creed was then lost in thought of how great it would be when his success was recognized. President ShinRa would probably promote him to commander or maybe even give him Heidegger's job. He snapped out of his fantasy landwhen hespotted a motorcycle approaching and, from the looks of it, it was traveling fast.

_(Cloud)_

What had once been a speck far down the Midgar highway was now almost within Cloud's reach. As he sped toward his target, all he could think of was the body of his best friend Za... Clouds mind became suddenly flustered with confusion. "What was his name? Why can't I remember his name!"

It didn't matter now. His friend's murderers were only meters away. Cloud's fighter instincts and some other presence within him that he could not explain were both urging him toward violence. His mind flushed away all thoughts of his lost friend and switched to combat mode. With his mind ready for battle, he focused on his target and leapt with all his strength from the speeding motorcycle.

_(Fox)_

Fox was hunched over next to the TTV trying to figure out how to use a shoddy standard issue ShinRa jack that didn't look like it would lift a feather. It happened faster than he could see. He heard the sound of metal scraping against pavement as a motorcycle slid, on it's side, down the highway towards them. Then suddenly a flying figure landed just in front of Fox. Almost instantly he recognized the person who had landed. He was the person they had left for dead and in his hands, he held the SOLDIER's giant sword.

"OH MY GOD!" Fox heard the commander yell as Creed fell into two pieces. Creed had been bisected diagonally at the torso by the giant sword as the blond haired assailant flew past him.

Fox could not think, so he pulled his rifle from his back and began to fire wildly. Just as the bullets left his gun, the assailant raised the huge sword into the path of the gunfire. The bullets ricocheted in all directions as they hit the frightening sword that still dripped with Creed's blood. No matter where he tried to shoot, the escaped test subject would not be hit. His reflexes were inhuman, and his strength was impossible, but Fox continued to fire until his clip ran out, the last few ricocheted bullets barely whizzing past him.

_(Cloud)_

Cloud lowered his buster sword to stare into the eyes of the frightened ShinRa soldier. His mind was still racing with confusion, but was purely focused on revenge. These soldiers had CAUSED this! They killed...someone. Who? Who did they kill? When? Maybe they didn't...

"At-Attaack!" the ShinRa Commander yelled.

Cloud's Jenova-enhanced killer instinct took over again as the ShinRa Commander grabbed the assault rifle that belonged to the sliced soldier. As Cloud turned to face him, the cowering soldier behind him stood up and began reloading his weapon. Cloud acted quickly, lifting the sword with his left hand, then turning to the left, slashing horizontally toward the soldier behind him.

_(Fox)_

Fox nearly pissed himself when he saw that sword coming toward him. He felt the breeze as it sliced through the air, missing him only by inches. Before his senses could return, his automatic rifle fell into two pieces as the spiky-headed demon rushed toward his commander. The ShinRa Commander fired desperately, only getting off five poorly aimed shots before the escapee slapped the gun from his hands and then grabbed him by the neck. Then, with mysterious ease, he hoisted the commander off the ground and raised the huge sword in his left hand up to the commander's exposed throat.

"WHY! Why did you do...Why did you...?" The devilish assailant trailed off.

"What..." The commander gasped through his strangled throat, "What...do...you... ...want...SOLDIER!"

"SOLDIER?" he confusedly asked. "I'ma SOLDIER? I'm a SOLDIER...First Class."

Fox, sensing the confusion in his voice, decided it was his chance. He quickly drew the ShinRanightstick from his belt and charged forward with it raised to strike.

_(Commander)_

The ShinRa Commander was running out of oxygen. Though he struggled, the SOLDIER's grip was too strong and he had a sword poised inches from his throat. Just when the commander thought he was dead, he spotted Fox charging from behind, his nightstick held high.

Not wasting any time, the commander kicked for the SOLDIER's groin, realizing that it was a cheap shot, but he was willing to take it at this point. He put all of his remaining strength into one kick, that the SOLDIER somehow anticipated. The SOLDIER had shifted his body at the last second so that the kick struck his thigh, then he turned left and raised his arm to block Fox's attack. The wooden club shattered against the SOLDIER's armored left arm.

"Oh &#$#!" Fox yelped as his weapon clattered to the ground.

The commander screamed, "NOOO!" as he felt the SOLDIER tighten his grip and hurl him toward he edge of the highway. His body flew over the cement guardrail and then down. He watched the sky disappear as he fell below the highway where there was no upper plate. Down into the slums he fell and just as the sky was almost completely out of sight...CRUNCH.

_(Cloud)_

"Commander!" the ShinRa soldier shrieked as his commander disappeared from sight, undoubtedly falling to his death. Cloud's frustration was building to the point where his mind felt like an overloaded reactor on the verge of an explosion. He couldn't remember anything or anyone. He DID know that these men were somehow responsible and he DID know how to get revenge. If front of him, the unarmed soldier crawled backwards, his eyes wide with fear.

Angry and desperate for revenge, Cloud fixed his Mako eyes on the terrified soldier. As he glared at him, the soldier reached for his belt, grasped a grenade, and quickly yanked the pin out.

"DIIIEEE!" the soldier screamed as he whipped the grenade at Cloud. Cloud, in one quick motion, batted the grenade into the sky with the side of the buster sword and then swiftly thrust the blade forward, impaling the ShinRa soldier. As the grenade exploded fifty meters in the air, Cloud swung the sword toward the ShinRa vehicle, hurling the soldier's lifeless body against vehicle's wall.

_(Driver)_

Hiding in the back of the ShinRa TTV, was the vehicle's driver, who had been guarding the battle wounded and unconscious soldier Jacobs. When he heard Fox's cry which was followed by the wall of the vehicle being severely dented inward, he grabbed an assault rifle and threw himself out the vehicle.

"DEAR GOD!" the driver exclaimed when his gaze met the pieces of Creed on the pavement and the smashed bloody body of Fox that lay against the TTV. When his vision swept to a figure holding a gigantic bloody sword, he panicked.

"$#&#, $#&#, $#&#!" he gasped as he raised the rifle to fire.

_(Cloud)_

As if from some unexplained reflex, Cloud summoned the power of the fire materia that he apparently had acquired during his days in SOLDIER. Before the ShinRa driver could pull the trigger, a phenomenal flame engulfed him and the entire ShinRa vehicle. As the driver was burn to a crisp, the van suddenly exploded and Cloud felt his body being thrown by the blast. Darkness engulfed him.

Cloud awoke in a dilapidated slum of Midgar. He couldn't remember anything, even how he had gotten there. Though his murderous rage has subsided, his confusion remained. He knew, however, that he had fallen, though he didn't know from where.

Where ever he had fallen from, somehow he had gotten by with just scraped knees. His mind was racing in circles. He tried desperately to think of someone, anyone. Someone that he could trust or that he even knew. There was one person, someone who it seemed that he could never forget...Sephiroth.

"Sephiroth," Cloud muttered. "SOLDIER: First Class. I was First Class, just like him." Slowly, Cloud's most powerful memories returned. But, they still seemed vague. He could see them in his mind, but the picture was blurry. He remembered fire, heat and death. It wasn't enough. He was lost. He was going to have to start his life over, but... What would he be good at?

"Mercenary," Cloudblurtedsuddenly. "Maybe if I go somewhere public I'll be able to find a job as a mercenary." Cloud picked himself up slowly and began to stumble out of the empty slum in which he had apparently landed.

Cloud eventually came to a train station. Sector 7 was printed on a nearby wall.

"Sector 7 Train Station." Cloud mumbled weakly. He had been through a lot and was groggy. He decided to rest here since at least he finally knew where he was.

He stumbled over beside the steps leading up to the train platform and plopped himself down on the cold cement. Whatever he was going to do with his life, he had the rest of his life to figure it out. Right now he didn't need to think, he just needed...rest...

_Epilogue: _

_Where my story ends, Final Fantasy 7 takes back over with the flashback that Tifa had when she was unconscious at Junon. In this flashback, she remembered finding Cloud at the Sector 7 Train Station and he had seemed confused and lost. He was then working as a mercenary, so she hired him to Avalanche so that she had time to get to know him again and learn more about their true past together._

_**Note: **Thank you for reading my story and I hope you enjoyed it. I know that the POV labels were kinda lame but I had no other way of showing a shift in POV such as larger spaces. Please review if you don't mind and if you have any suggestions of what I should write next or if you have any specific comments feel free to e-mail me. _


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